ISKL Tournament

By Soo Wei Goh

This past weekend, the varsity boys basketball team and the varsity girls basketball team travelled to Kuala Lumpur to face our rivals, ISKL. Before this meeting, we had already met them on our home grounds. The girls had won both games, whilst the boys had fallen short by 1 point. The girls sought to continue their winning streak, while the boys sought revenge on their home floor.

The bus ride was chaotic, as usual. Everybody complains about the long bus rides, but I genuinely enjoy them. Spending 4 hours with your friends at the back of the bus playing clash royale is as fun as it gets. For many, it was our last ISKL trip, and we wanted to make it memorable. 

Fast forward a few hours after the bus ride, we tipped off against ISKL in their home crowd. Adrenaline was rushing through our bodies as we started the first quarter. We got off to a slow start and ended up down 4 points in the first minute. After a timeout was called, we went back on the court and defended against ISKL. While guarding the ISKL guard, I rolled my ankle on the hardwood and collapsed to the ground. I was in pain, but the game carried on, and I had to be subbed off.

Exactly 3 minutes after, Luke Ng sprained his ankle, landing on the ISKL centre when landing. With three starters out and a depleted team spirit, we couldn't make a comeback and stay in the game. We lost 37-16 on the first day.

It was a rough night going back to the hotel. Everyone was bummed out that injuries were plaguing our team, and we didn't have a fair shot of beating ISKL. This meant the rest of the team had to step up if we wanted to have a chance against ISKL, and that's precisely what we did.

Playing ISKL for a second time, everybody expected us to lose with an injured team. Instead of admitting defeat early on, we went out and gave them a fight. Darryl Dwumfour (12) led the way in the first half by dropping 13 points, whilst Sean Lee, Drew Worten, and Ezra Latham provided a much-needed offensive boost by scoring 3's. 

Going into the second half, we lead by 5 points. Fast forward to the 3rd quarter, we lost the lead as they gained momentum, and the game ended 47-55. It was a great game. We showed a lot of heart despite our circumstances and grew so much as a team. Noah Kaney said, "I'm proud of this team. In the face of adversity, we pushed through and gave it everything." 

The next stop for our varsity basketball team is to take on ACSC in Taiwan in precisely two weeks. This means nonstop practice, matches, and rehab for our injured players. ISKL was a blast and will most definitely provide a huge confidence boost in our team going into ACSC.